Austin C. Imperato, now based in Washington, DC, studied Classical art and Italian Renaissance art in Rome, Italy, and British painting and architecture in London England. He is a painter of abstract works and has a special interest in the tribal arts of Africa and Nepal. He received his AB degree from Hamilton College and his MA degree from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He works in the Office of the President of Georgetown University as Assistant to the President for Research.

Pascal James Imperato is a distinguished Africanist, African art historian, and ethnographer. He is internationally respected for his studies of the Bamana, Dogon, and Peul peoples of Mali. He is also well known for his studies of the Luo of Tanzania and the colonial era history of northern Kenya. His books include Dogon Cliff Dwellers. The Art of Mali’s Mountain People (1978), Legends, Sorcerers and Enchanted Lizards. Door Locks of the Bamana of Mali (2001), Quest for the Jade Sea. Colonial Competition around an East African Lake (1998), and African Mud Cloth. The Bogolanfini Art Tradition of Gneli Traoré of Mali (2006). He co-edited, with Leonard Kahan and Donna Page, Surfaces. Color, Substances, and Ritual Applications on African Sculpture (2009). In 2012, he co-authored with his son, Gavin H. Imperato, BUNDU. Sowei Headpieces of the Sande Society of West Africa. He is currently Distinguished Service Professor and Founding Dean of the School of Public Health at the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center in New York City.